More than two years after the “Paris Climate Deal” and the entry into force of the “Sustainable Development Goals”, is Europe ready to take sustainable finance to the next level, making finance work for sustainable development and for protecting our climate? This question was addressed at a high-level event in Berlin on February 22, 2018. The conference was organized by the European Commission, DIW Berlin and the Hub for Sustainable Finance Germany (H4SF).

It gathered policy-makers, researchers, actors of the energy and banking sectors and regulators to discuss where we stand and where we are headed with sustainable finance in Europe. Key-note speaker and EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis outlined the EU Commission’s vision on the topic ahead of the presentation of a European action plan and stressed the need to better channel funds, both public and private, towards green investments.

Christian Thimann, chair of High Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, Karsten Neuhoff, Head of the Climate Policy department at DIW Berlin, DIW Berlin president Marcel Fratzscher and Joachim Wuermeling, member of the Bundesbank board, were among the distinguished panellists. Participants unanimously agreed on the need to take things further in the interest of a more resilient banking system as well as of our planet, but the debates also highlighted the need for the right incentives, for a well-designed framework and adequate regulation.